3rd International Conference on Material, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering (IC3ME 2015)

The simulation analysis of the pressure in the silo influence on the

structure of the grain dryer

Yang Wanga, Yan Zhoub

College of Engineering and Technology, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun 130118;
a
wangyang800507@126.com, b359953768@qq.com

Keywords: Grain drying machine; Saturated pressure; Finite element; Rectangular silo; Simulated
analysis
Abstract. This paper we intend to test the pressure during the process of grain drying in the
rectangular silo and explore the change regularity of dynamic and static pressure. According to the
trend of the dynamic and static pressure with height, we analyzed the pressure and the structure stress
in the silo that could have effects on the structure of grain drying machine by the finite element
analysissoftware. We obtain the relationship of the dynamic and static pressure between the corn
moisture content through contrasting the result of the experiment and the finite element simulated
analysis.

Introduction
When we filled particles within the silo, the bottom pressure of the silo was not increased linearly with
the filling height like filled liquid. But filled to a certain height, it could reach a saturation value[1-2]. The
phenomenon was derived from the particle tangential friction force between the particle medium and
the silo wall[3-4].
In this paper, we analyzed the change rule of grain storage pressure and the correlation between
the stress and the grain moisture. At the same time, we carried out the optimized analysis on the
structure of the grain dryer using the change law of pressure in the silo. We put forward a new method
of detecting the grain moisture by pressure.

The influence of moisture content changes on the pressure in the silo

The corns were used by artificial humidifying method due to the limitation of the season and soaked12h
in the water. Then the corns were precipitated by drying. The samples of the different moisture content
would be filled according to the above method. With the change of the filling height, the curve of the
stress change was shown in Fig.1.
22. 42%
0. 9 21. 52%
0. 8 21%
0. 7 16. 84%
13. 25%
0. 6
The stress (kg)

12. 51%
受 力，kg

0. 5
0. 4
0. 3
0. 2
0. 1
0
0 20 40 60 80 100
Corn weight (kg)

Fig.1 The influence of the different moisture content to force change

It showed that with the increase of moisture content, the stress was also constantly increased and
the force change trend was consistent on the different moisture content. Between the pressure and the
corn weight and had obvious index relationship with the change of moisture content.

© 2015. The authors - Published by Atlantis Press 1238

The simulation analysis
The rectangular silo was modeling using Pro/E. The model would be built and imported into the finite
element structural static analysis in ANSYS workbench[5-6]. The material of the rectangular silo was
used by the carbon steel. The material parameters of steel were shown in Table 1.
Table 1 The material parameters of steel
Density Young modulus Poisson'sratio Bulkmodulus Shearmodulus
3
7.85e-006kg/m 2.e+11Pa 0.3 1.6667e+11Pa 7.6923e+10Pa
Due to the moisture content of corn was different; its density was also different. Choose the corns
of the different density as the research object such as 710 kg/m3 、610 kg/m3 、510 kg/m3 、410 kg/m3 .
The undersurface of silo and different height deformation were shown in Fig.2. The deformation of the
710 kg/m3 density was shown in Fig.2(a). The deformation of the 610 kg/m3 density was shown in
Fig.2(b).The deformation of the 510 kg/m3 density was shown in Fig.2(c).The deformation of the
410 kg/m3 density was shown in Fig.2(d).The different height of the maximum deformation was shown
in Table 2.

（a） （b） （c） （d）

Fig.2 The deformation of the different height in rectangular silo

Table 2 The different height of the maximum deformation in rectangular silo（mm）

Fill the fluid density（kg/m3） The bottom 600mm 1200mm

710 5.8881 5.3476 2.8876

610 5.0588 4.5736 2.4066
510 4.2295 3.1603 2.0568
410 3.4002 3.0224 1.6321
The six location of the silo bottom were shown in Fig.3. Its deformation was shown in Table 3.

Fig.3 The plane location of the six points

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 Table 3 The bottom surface deformation of rectangular silo（mm）
Position 710 kg/m3 610 kg/m3 510 kg/m3 410 kg/m3
A 0.46 0.39 0.33 0.27
B 0.43 0.38 0.31 0.257
C 0.29 0.31 0.20 0.167
D 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.028
E 0.03 0.04 0.02 0.016
F 0.01 0.01 0.006 0.005
Thus, with the increase of fluid density, the deformation was increased. The largest stress was the
bottom center position and two sides were decreased gradually. Fig.4 was the deformation of the silo
wall under different fluid filling density. The density was respectively 710kg/m3 、 610kg/m3 、
510kg/m3、410kg/m3 in Fig.5（a）、（b）、（c）、（d）.

（a） （b） （c） （d）

Fig.4 The strain of the lateral wall under different density in rectangular silo
By the graph, you could see that the biggest deformation was occurred in the bottom. The
deformation of the silo wall was the greater with the increase of the filling density. When the moisture
content of corns was 75%, the measuring pressure coefficient was 0.42, the height of the filling silo was
1.6m and the friction coefficient between corns and the silo was 0.45. We analyzed the change of the
silo stress and displacement and carried on the intensity check under the normal load and tangential
load force. As shown in Fig.5 and Fig.6, we analyzed the force and deformation of the side wall in the
silo. The density of the corns was 710kg/m3. The loading height was 1m.The value of the maximal
stress was 5.98MPa. The value of the maximum deformation was 0.26mm.

Fig.5 The stress analysis of side wall Fig.6 The deformation analysis of side wall
In the same way, we analyzed the force and deformation of the side wall in the silo respectively
when the loading height was 1.2m、1.4m、1.6m，1.8m.The loading height was 1.2m.The maximum
stress was 7.63MPa. The maximum deformation was 0.34mm.The loading height was 1.4m.The
maximum stress was 8.78MPa. The maximum deformation was 0.41mm.The loading height was
1.6m.The maximal stress was 9.27MPa. The maximum deformation was 0.45mm.The loading height
was 1.8m.The maximum stress was 12.45MPa. The maximum deformation was 0.52mm.

Conclusions
The results showed that the maximum deformation was happened at the bottom of the silo with the
increase of height. The same flat surface pressure distribution were reduced gradually from center to

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around when the filling fluid density was changed, the pressure was increased with the increase of
density.
The simulation analysis was showed that the side wall deformation value was changed little with
the increase of filling height in the silo according withthe pressure saturation phenomenon. At the same
time, the deformation value of the side wall was the basic linear trend after the height of the filling was
1m high approximately, namely the pressure saturation phenomenon.

Acknowledgements
This paper was supported by the funding of the national science and technology plan
subproject(NO.2011BAD03B01).

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